11/24/08

Click here for an updated version of this prayer and for Grace for Thanksgiving Day Dinner!

For many reasons, the holidays are a difficult time for many people.

For those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, Thanksgiving and Christmas (especially the "first" of each) can be particularly hard to experience. Nothing can make these moments easy but prayer can offer a path to walk through these days with greater peace and even opportunities for healing.

I'm posting this prayer a week before Thanksgiving because it might help to sit with it for a while, to pray it over several days.

Some might find it helpful to use a prayer like this as the blessing before Thanksgiving Day dinner. Others might find it helpful to pray it alone, or to share copies of it with other family members and friends.

The Lord was a man well acquainted with grief: no stranger was he to a broken heart. He is with us in our pain as surely as he is with those whom he has welcomed to his arms of peace.

In those same everlasting arms he gathers us this Thanksgiving...

Dear God,

There is an empty chair at our table,an ache in our heartsand tears on our faces.

We may try to shield one anotherfrom the grief we bearbut we cannot hide it from you.

We pray for (names)whose presence we miss in these homecoming days.

Open our eyes and our heartsto the healing and warmthof the light of your presence.

Assure us, Lord, that those we misshave a place at your tableand a home in your heartas well as in ours.

Open our hearts to joyful memories of the love we sharedwith those who have gone before us.

Help us tell the storiesthat make the past presentand bring us close to those we miss.

Teach us to lean on each otherand on you, Lord,for the strength we need to walk through difficult times.

I shared this with my good friend who lost his father a few years ago... I never met his father, but through my friend's family I feel like I did... I went to his wake and funeral and I remember how hard it was (and I never even met him!)- it's amazing the connections you can make with people, in so many ways, on so many levels...

A great talk on coping with the holidays after you have lost someone you love is on www.carmonfuneralhome.com, click on the "archived video" link and the password is " coping ". The video runs for about 100 minutes....

Thanks for the link - I will view the video but it requires calling the funeral home for a password and I think that's a step many of my readers might not take. However, knowing the source here leads me to tell you that it will be worth the call. (No, I have no connection with the funeral home on whose site this appears.)

I am a regular reader of this blog. I lost my mom on October 26th. I used much of this prayer as grace for the Thanksgiving dinner that I hosted for my family. I truly appreciate you sharing your gifts with us. In my sorrow, you are one of the many things I am grateful for. Thank you.

Are you thinking about becoming a Catholic?

The best place to start is always one of your local Catholic churches. Drop in some Sunday and see what's going on. Then you might speak to the pastor or someone on the parish staff about how they can help you and respond to your questions.